By Siobhan Hughes and Natalie Andrews
WASHINGTON -- President Trump has rejected one of the possible offramps for the standoff over funding the Department of Homeland Security, leaving an impasse unresolved that has led to hourslong lines at some airports as unpaid security staff don't show up for work.
White House staff briefed the president on an idea to fund all parts of DHS except for the agency responsible for enforcing immigration law, according to people familiar with the matter.
Republicans could separately fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement through a procedural move -- known as reconciliation -- that would allow the money to clear the Senate on a simple-majority vote instead of requiring the 60 votes needed to pass most legislation. But not all Republicans think this is necessary because ICE received billions of additional funding in Trump's sweeping tax cuts and spending bill passed along party lines last year.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) walked Trump through the strategy in a weekend conversation, the people said, but Trump rejected the idea. Some top Senate Republicans had met on Sunday with White House liaison James Braid to discuss ideas for ending the shutdown. The conversation between Thune and Trump was reported earlier by Punchbowl News.
Over the weekend, the president said he would send ICE agents to select airports around the country to assist with security lines. Trump on Monday said that move brought Democrats to the table to negotiate, but he told his negotiators to hold firm until a spending bill is paired with legislation requiring proof of citizenship to vote, along with other requirements.
Trump also indicated that he wanted to use the funding fight as leverage to pass what he considers his top legislative priority, the SAVE America Act. That legislation would ratchet up ID requirements to vote in federal elections and mandate proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Trump also wants to add a ban on most mail-in voting and restrictions on gender-transition procedures for minors.
"When I announced yesterday about ICE, the Democrats called, we want to settle," Trump told reporters on Monday. "I told the people: 'don't settle, don't settle, because we have something bigger, only settle if you get the Save America Act.' "
The office of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Democrats hadn't reached out to Trump.
In a social-media post, Trump indicated he could trade a $5 billion cut in ICE funding for approving the SAVE America Act.
While DHS, which oversees the TSA, has been largely shut down since last month, ICE remains fully operational using a stream of funding approved under the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Democrats have rejected any new funding for ICE, precipitating the current DHS funding lapse. They have made a series of demands related to immigration enforcement, including raising the threshold for searches and mandating that officers display clear identification and don't wear masks. The administration last week offered some concessions including greater use of body cameras.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) has proposed reaching a bipartisan deal to immediately fund everything except ICE and then take up a separate bill to fund ICE for 10 years and increase its budget with just Republican votes.
"I think there is a real urgency in the Senate to try to get this resolved before the Easter holiday. The question is, are the Democrats going to budge?" he said on his Verdict podcast Monday.
Democrats have held firm on blocking funding for DHS, instead repeatedly proposing narrow bills that would just fund TSA or other nonimmigration-related parts of DHS.
If Congress doesn't agree on DHS funding by March 27 and leaves for a scheduled two-week recess, TSA officers are set to miss more than a month of paychecks. Thune has indicated he could keep the Senate in session until lawmakers reach a deal.
Write to Siobhan Hughes at Siobhan.hughes@wsj.com and Natalie Andrews at natalie.andrews@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 23, 2026 14:45 ET (18:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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